Adding the auth token to the UserSerializer - django

Question

How would I add the auth token to the userSeralizer?
This is my serializer:
class UserSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = User
fields = ('id', 'username')
And then in my views the url:
#api_view(['POST', 'DELETE'])
def create_user(request):
"""
API endpoint to register a new user
"""
model = User
serializer_class = UserSerializer
username, password = request.POST['username'], request.POST['password']
try:
user = User.objects.create_user(username, username, password)
except IntegrityError:
user = User.objects.get(username=username, email=username)
# the users token, we will send this to him now.
token = Token.objects.get(user=user)
if request.method == "POST":
serializer = UserSerializer(user)
return Response(data)
I think it would be nice to have the token in the serializer, or not?

Answer 1

From a security standpoint, auth tokens should not be passed around in the serializer. If your User view can be seen by anyone, then anyone could to impersonate any user without much trouble.
Tokens are meant to be returned only after successful login, not when an user is created. This is why most sites require Users to sign in just after the account was created.
But for the sake of the question, there are several ways to add items to serializers.
First, is a little hacky but doesn't require custom models
# Not adding context would raise a DeprecationWarning in the console
serializer = UserSerializer(user, context={'request': request})
data = serializer.data
data['token'] = token
return Response(data)
Last but not least, is a bit more elegant but requires a custom User class. However you could use it in your app models.
# in models.py inside your User model
def get_my_token(self):
return Token.objects.get(user=user)
my_token = property(get_my_token)
and then in the serializer class add the field with the token (remember to add it to the fields attribute in your meta class)
class UserSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
token = serializers.Field(source='my_token')
class Meta:
model = User
fields = ('id', 'username', 'token')